


Earth to Lance

by ficletsandthelike (schulia_jet)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron)-centric, but it's not him actually sooo, shiro is being a jerk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 15:34:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14980181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schulia_jet/pseuds/ficletsandthelike
Summary: Lance wakes up with a migraine, and tries to brave it out for the sake of the team.





	Earth to Lance

Lance wanted nothing more than to roll over and go back to sleep. Even the gentle lights prompting him to wake up were glaring through his eyelids, and a dull ache pounded steadily at his temples. He groaned, knowing that there was a diplomatic seminar that night that he wouldn’t be able to miss, and slowly pushed himself to a sitting position. A headache wouldn’t keep the others from doing their duties, so it wouldn’t stop him, either.

The lights were even worse out in the hallway; trying to walk casually, Lance bumped into something cold and realized he had inadvertently drifted into the wall. He gave up, placing a steadying hand on the metal and heading to the kitchen at a shuffle. He flicked on the lights, squinting, and tried to put a bowl of food together.

It took a moment before Lance realized his bowl of goo was on the floor, not in his hands.

“Earth to Lance!” Pidge waved her hand in front of his face, and he blinked, her annoyed expression suddenly materializing. “No offense, but green isn’t exactly your color.” Lance looked down to see goo splattered across his jeans and sighed. His head throbbed at the sudden noise, and now it looked like he’d be skipping breakfast if he wanted to make it to training on time.

“-nce?! Lance, seriously!” He shook his head and refocused on the Pidge’s wavering figure, which had moved across the kitchen and was now holding a towel. “Are you going to, I dunno, clean up?”

“Yeah, yeah…” She tossed him a cloth as well as a concerned look at his lack of energy, and he smiled reassuringly, somehow managing to catch the rag. Kneeling on the floor, however, was a different matter, and Lance let out a silent breath of relief when Pidge left, leaving him to recover from the stars that sparked around his vision.

When Lance finally walked into the training room, he was met with irritated looks from Shiro and Allura.

“Lance, do you have a reason for being so late today?” Allura questioned. He rubbed his head sheepishly, taking the opportunity to close his eyes against the harsh lighting. “Sorry! This morning didn’t exactly start off so hot,” he replied.

“Waking up on the wrong side of the bed doesn’t excuse tardiness, Lance,” Shiro scolded. “You can join the next exercise. For now, watch and see if you can catch up.” His subtle insult stung, but Lance was too concerned about the intense pain that had begun to radiate across his skull to really let it sink in. He sat down, squeezing his eyes shut to block as much light as possible. The clash of metal on metal rung in his ears, but he couldn’t plug them without seeming suspicious.

It only seemed like a minute before he heard a voice shouting his name.

“Lance, were you even paying attention?” Lance lifted his head to meet Shiro’s gaze, and instantly regretted it as his head screamed in agony. He had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. “Do you even care about what we’re doing today? I’m sure that the leaders of Hjder wouldn’t let a slacking soldier represent their cause, and if you don’t start pulling your weight, we won’t either.” 

Shiro turned and addressed the group. “Let’s start the next part of today’s session: individualized fighting. Each of us has a robot that has been customized to attack our weak spots, with weapons we may not be accustomed to defending against. We’ll begin with one-on-one battles, critiquing each other from the sidelines, then come together as a group. Lance, let’s get you moving. You can go first.” 

Lance gulped and scrambled to his feet. The room tilted dangerously, black swirling around the corners of his sight, but he grabbed his bayard and walked to the center of the room, gritting his teeth. Shiro was disappointed in him, and there was no way he would make it worse and risk embarrassing himself in front of the whole team. A roaring in his ears cast everything underwater; Lance could only see a robot darting towards him with two small knives, reflective armor destroying his brain’s ability to think anything but PAIN, PAIN.

“Th-re- some–ing —ng —- -ance-” A yell from Keith caused him to turn his head, and too late he realized his mistake. Metal fist met suit, and he was sent flying. Lance hit the ground and lay stunned for a few seconds. People were shouting, miles away. 

“LA-CE!” 

The floor fell out from under him, dropping him into unconsciousness.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lance felt as if he was being tugged from a dream, yanking away from the sticky tendrils of sleep. He cracked open one eye tentatively, fully opening both when the lights didn’t trigger more pain. Coran sat in the corner of what appeared to be the med bay, setting down a book when he noticed Lance.

“You’re awake! Good, good; any more aching in the ol’ noggin?” Coran asked. “Nope,” Lance answered. Remembering what happened, he quickly opened his mouth again. “Is everyone else mad? What time is it? Oh no, I missed the meeting-” 

“They rescheduled for another time.” Allura walked into the room, cutting him off. “For now, we decided it was best to take a couple of days to realign ourselves with our goals.” Shame washed over Lance. “I’m sorry, Princess. No one needs to take a day off just because I was stupid, really!” he pleaded.

“We’re stopping to relieve some of the pressure we’ve all put on ourselves. You didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone about your pain, and I’m sure that this is only the most extreme of occurrences that have been going on for some time now. All of us will be discussing this later, but please rest for now, Lance. I promise that a break is what we’ve all desperately needed,” Allura said. Lance took a deep breath and relented, letting his head fall back against the pillow. 

“Only for you, Princess,” he said. He was out before she could reply.


End file.
